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The Blotter: Foley

Roll Call reports that House Majority Leader John Boehner has been called to testify before the Ethics Committee at a date TBD. "Additionally, Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) will appear before the ethics committee next week... The Louisiana Republican will discuss his role in 2005 in informing House Republican leaders that a former page - sponsored by his office - had been made uncomfortable by an e-mail exchange with Foley."

The paper also calls Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer "unquestionably the most powerful unelected official in the House," and "extraordinarily devoted to protecting his boss." Palmer "has now gone into crisis-control mode along with the rest of the Speaker's staff; more than one Republican has commented that Hastert's office now resembles a 'bunker.' Palmer has said the Fordham meeting simply 'did not happen,' and his friends and longtime colleagues say they can't imagine he is lying."

The Washington Post focuses on Palmer, Hastert's deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke, and Hastert counsel Ted Van Der Meid, who collectively form "a palace guard" for the Speaker. The story also notes of Fordham's testimony today that he "will detail repeated efforts by then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl to raise alarms about Foley's interest in young pages, and Fordham's own confrontations with Foley."

A person close to Foley tells the New Republic that Karl Rove pressured Foley to run for re-election this year. "According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by 'the White House and Rove gang,' who insisted that Foley run. If he didn't, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career."